Question

What does personification do in these lines from "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe?

Answer 1

It emphasizes tension

In the passage, Death was personified to show how the old man seems to have perceived his impending death despite not having seen nor heard the presence of the murderer in the room. Death had the characteristics of having the ability to stalk, to have a shadow and to envelop its victim. All of which are humanistic attributes that death in its real sense could not possibly enact. It creates the tension on the murder that is about to happen and the thoughts of the murderer on his victim.